Diridon Station Area lands new $500M+ mixed-use Class A office proposal

The news downtown San Jose has been longing for is finally here, via Nate at the SVBJ. Downtown is getting a new Class A office proposal. Let me let that sink in. Downtown San Jose has a new proposal from Trammell Crow Co. that boasts 800,000 sqft of Class A office, with up to half being built on speculation! Again, 400,000 sqft of office on speculation. To put those numbers into perspective,downtown has roughly 8M sqft of Class A office. This proposal is looking to add 10% of that number.

But wait… there’e more. Not only will this project have large floor plates of 40,000 sqft, something the current aging downtown Class A market doesn’t offer, but it will also have a residential component, 325 apartments. But wait… there’s even more. Not only will there be a new plaza along Santa Clara, a half block from the SAP Center, but there will be a retail component to tie into the entertainment vibe of the area. But even beyond all of that, this is a transportation oriented development(TOD) project, meaning the developers chose this location specifically intending to build this $500M+ project because of the proximity to Diridon Station.

All of this represents a win for downtown, which is now officially expanding west, and a win for the Diridon Station Area, which has seen zero development growth on the east side of the tracks, as the city holds its collective breath for the A’s stadium decision. It is surprising that a proposal like this took so long due to the site proximity to Diridon Station, but then again not many South Bay developers can hand over $50M+ for 8.5 acres of parking lots on any given day.

This proposal will be the anchor project in a near future mixed-use tech cluster neighborhood. The development of the Diridon Station Area will be the largest expansion of downtown in decades, as developers see the value of TODs, and the proximity to one of the busiest entertainment venues in the world. There will be restaurants, bars, shops, residential units, office spaces, and hotels within a decade.

Between Insight Realty’s two mixed-use proposals Railyard Place and Museum Place, and now this proposal from Trammell Crow, downtown will gain: 1.2M sqft of office, 1,000+ residential units, an unknown sqft of retail, and about $1B in new development.